


Apathy

by Nevaeh



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: M/M, Modern AU, chapter 2 edited, no teens, nothing kinky, some smut in chapter 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-05 11:58:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4178976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevaeh/pseuds/Nevaeh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zell meets Seifer at the wedding of his ex and they both decide to get drunk together and drown in self pity. Company can be soothing sometimes. And sometimes you need a second go to get things rolling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Apathy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elliemars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliemars/gifts).



> This little story was written for the prompt ‘two miserable people meeting at a wedding AU’ with Seifer and Zell as characters.
> 
> It came from elliemars, one of the few still active FF8 writers who writes superb FFs, so go check her stuff out! 
> 
> The first chapter was written as a drabble, but I decided to wrap it up in one or two additional chapters. SO warnings, for this one only slightly bad language, for the next chapters there will be smut.
> 
> Have fun!

At least the food was good. Sometimes you had to make the best of a situation and since everything at the wedding depressed him at best and downright angered him at worst, Zell decided to just try everything offered at the banquet, feign a good mood and leave at the earliest possible time which would still be polite. A very good plan. And the crabs were delicious.

He looked around, Quistis was just talking with someone across the room and he couldn´t see Selphie anywhere. With a sigh, he took his full plate and walked over to the balcony. He would stay, but that didn´t mean he wanted to engage and pretend to like it even more than absolutely necessary.

“This is just for smoking.”

Or maybe he couldn´t get away from it after all.

“It´s a balcony, I can eat here if I want to!”

The tall blonde with the cigarette grinned like an asshole. No surprises.

“Yeah but when I smoke here, I´ve got a reason, but when you stuff yourself, it looks like you want to get away.”

Zell eyed him for a few seconds. Of course that was exactly what he did, but… he didn´t want it to be so obvious.

“No, of course not. The air inside is so bad.”

The other one finished his cigarette, not trying to argue the point any more. He sighed when he threw it over the railing. “What´s the problem, screwed one of the bridesmaids?”

Zell almost chocked on his tiny sandwich. That was almost too close to the truth.

“Are you running away from someone? You look so guilty.”

The blonde smirked, but it wasn´t really convincing.

“The bride… is my ex. I think she invited me to make me suffer.”

Zell almost laughed, but disguised it as a cough. A really bad one. “Yeah, I can see Rinoa doing something like that. What did you do? Did you cheat? Did you insult her? Did you tell her her hair looks stupid?”

“Her hair doesn´t look stupid!”

 _Or did she break up with you._ Maybe the evening could take a nice turn, wallowing in self pity was best in company.

“Obviously she likes you a lot, I mean who invites an ex to their own wedding, eh? Or maybe she just wanted to rub it in and you were stupid enough to come here anyway.”

“Says the guy with the fucking face tattoo. Don´t tell me about bad life choices.”

Zell snorted. You needed guts to wear a face tattoo, Rinoa´s ex wasn´t even close to that.

“I take it back, by the way. I guess you´re here because no one wanted to screw you.”

“Excuse me you fucking hooligan, I was invited by my ex as well. And since we´re friends I came. For friendship.”

The blonde laughed and Zell contemplated punching him for a second. The feeling of a broken nose under his fist was always soothing and nice.

“You fucked Rinoa? She really lost every little bit of taste after me, holy shit.”

Looked like he would faint from laughing too much. Zell shoved his plate on the railing, getting in the right position to do some harm. He would give him just one more chance.

“Squall´s my ex.”

At least he stopped laughing, though the look of horror on his face wasn´t really better.

“How in the name of everything that´s holy did you get it on with that weird bastard?”

How indeed. Zell had wondered about that for a while now, especially when he sat there, looking at the happy couple staring at each other, everyone around him bawling their eyes out and all he could think of was how Squall had never looked at him like that. Maybe he had just imagined it, maybe it hadn´t even happened, maybe he should just leave because he couldn´t take it, everything, and Quistis of all people should understand it. But Quistis always did the right thing.

“Fuck this shit, I´m leaving. Have fun with your hiding place, asshole.”

“I´m Seifer.”

Zell frowned, trying to pretend to think hard. “And I absolutely don´t care. Have a nice rest of your life.”

“How about we both get drunk right now and forget this day ever existed.”

He didn´t even argue. It didn´t matter. He wouldn´t feel so alone that way, a good idea after all.

“I know a place not so far away, it´s a bit shabby but you know. Not so frequented.”

\- - - - - - - -

Two hours later Zell felt perfectly blissful, though everything was slightly wobbly. Seifer turned out to be the perfect drinking partner, no lightweight and a fitting story about Rinoa for everything bad Zell had to say about Squall. Also one for everything good Zell had to say to make up for saying something bad in the first place. He couldn´t badmouth Squall, not on his wedding day. Or ever.

“I… I guess I head home. You need a drive?”

Seifer looked up, his head lying on his arm while he drew circles on the counter. “You´ve got more tattoos than that ugly one?”

Zell kicked him, but it wasn´t very vicious. “What do you care? Do you need a car?”

“I wondered all evening.” He drank the last bit of his whiskey and closed his eyes. Zell couldn´t do it, though he was tempted. He couldn´t leave him, eventually getting kicked out, he deserved it but Zell was not that kind of an asshole.

“Come on, you can sleep at my place, you heavy motherfucker, might wanna help with your own feet a bit?”

Seifer slurred something he couldn´t quite understand but he got on his feet. Stayed on them until they reached the apartment, a horribly long walk. He was asleep before his head was on the couch.

\- - - - - - - -

He woke up with a headache and the taste of death on his tongue. And remembering why he got wasted in the first place. Slowly crawling out of bed, he tried not to fall over his jeans on the way out. Funny how he managed to get rid of them, it was all pretty blurry after he dumped Seifer in his living room… where he still was, snoring and defying gravity, most of his body was already hanging off of the couch. He didn´t feel particularly interested in waking him up and maybe he would already be gone when he got out of the shower. Sounded good.

Twenty minutes later he was still there and he was also still there after Zell came back from buying something for breakfast. Although the thought of throwing bread at him was rather compelling, Zell shrugged it off, finished eating and got ready for the gym. Best way to get the head clear was still a good workout.

Just when he put on his jacket he heard a rustle and shortly afterwards a loud thump. A pained groan. He hesitated, his jacket halfway on. The guy was a total stranger, he couldn´t just leave him there, but he also didn´t want to deal with him. Another loud groan. Rolling his eyes, Zell took the jacket off again and trotted over to the living room.

“I don´t know why your groaning so much, you slept enough to feel good again.”

“I hit my head on the floor.”

Coudn´t have been too hard, he was lying face down on the carpet. Zell assumed he probably didn´t want to know when he vacuumed the last time.

“Yeah, so I was on my way out and I kinda can´t leave you here all awake, so could you… leave?”

Seifer didn´t move. Maybe he died suddenly.

“You mind if I stay a bit longer?”

Obviously. Rolling his eyes, he walked over to him, absolutely content with picking him up and kicking him out.

“I´m a cop. I won´t steal anything.”

“First of all, that isn´t making you any more trustworthy and I just don´t want to… oh fuck it, I´ll be gone for a few hours, I´d prefer not seeing you here anymore later.”

Seifer tried waving him off, but his arm was not very responsive. Zell just hoped he wasn´t going to regret it. But then again he felt way too bad to think too much about it.

\- - - - - - - -

Late afternoon, some additional food in a bag and he was still there. Lying on the couch, a pillow over his head. First thing he noticed were the clothes he was wearing, T-shirt and boxers. A bit too tight. Looked like Zell´s.

“Hey, thought I told you to piss off and not go through my stuff!”

Some grunted noise, the arm that lay on the pillow lifted it a bit.

“I didn´t go through anything. Saw a closet, found some clothes, put them on.”

“Yeah, and where are yours?”

“Washing machine. Didn´t go through your stuff as well, I showered and it was standing there.” He waved his hand. “I´ll go when it´s done, okay?”

Zell threw his bags in the kitchen, trying to calm down. He could still kick him out later, right now he just wanted to eat something.

Half an hour and he had prepared two plates, he wasn´t that kind of an asshole. Again. Maybe he should start to become exactly like that. But then again Seifer would stay at least for another half hour anyway, his clothes were still in the dryer.

“You want something?”

Seifer looked up, the pillow finally gone. He just stared at the ceiling.

“You don´t look too well.”

“Last night was… awful and I´m obviously not as energetic as you are.” He moved over to the counter, not even looking at what he got. Just started eating. “So, Zell, do you have a job?”

“Excuse me? You really got some nerve!”

He waved his fork around, not very distressed. “I mean, you weren´t going anywhere today. That´s all.”

“I`m an athlete. Karate. And wasn´t I gone for a few hours just… like just now?”

Now he looked at him, all up and down, trying to see the evidence for that. Zell wanted to stab his fork into Seifer´s eye.

“Ah. Makes sense. I´m not usually hanging out at stranger´s apartments, sorry about that. I´m from Deling City and going back to my hotel room was…”

He looked away, his jaw muscles tense. Zell knew what he meant, the reason he probably was unconsciously okay with him staying. He didn´t want to be alone as well. They had both been invited because they had been close, but neither Rinoa nor Squall realized how fucking awful it was. Not everyone wanted to share their _happiness_.

“It´s okay, don´t worry about it. Hey, you wanna watch something?”

Seifer shrugged. Slowly chewed his brokkoli.

Maybe he could stay a little bit longer. Maybe Zell didn´t mind a little bit of company. Maybe it wasn´t all that bad that he didn´t know Seifer at all.

Maybe… he was just so completely different from Squall that he made Zell forget him for a while.

 


	2. Melancholy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Change of plan, the story will have four chapters after all. This is turning out to be a much more complex story than I had EVER anticipated. But in a good way! Who can I hate that I get invested in a fandom that I didn´t want to write Fanfics for, haha.
> 
> Have fun!

“Hey, your coffee.”

 

Seifer handed the hot cup over to Raijin, who was playing with his phone. They could´ve already been back at the station, but if executed right there was always a bit of time that could be tweaked off. Besides, the coffee at the station was just miserable.

 

He sat back in the car, taking a sip, waiting for Raijin to stop tinkering and start driving when a poster caught his eye. Some announcement of the world championship in Karate. It rang a bell somehow, but he couldn´t quite....

 

“Alright, grab your cup.“ Seifer snapped back from his musings just in time to keep his coffee spilling on his pants. Again. He already gave up the hope that Raijin would ever learn to start the car gently.

 

When he was back at his desk and started his computer it made click. That guy... the one he met at the wedding a few weeks ago, he had mentioned he did something martial arts. He couldn´t quite remember his name, something with Z, Zack? Zedric? With a shrug he started googling. The tournament homepage surely had some athlete biographies.

 

“Ahem.”

 

He looked up, right into Fujin´s mean red eyes. Great.

 

“You busy?”

 

Trying to be inconspicuous, he clicked his browser away. “Not so much. You got something for me?”

 

She dropped a file unceremoniously on his desk. A big one. “In case...” She shrugged. “You´re not too busy.”

 

“I wasn´t looking at porn!”

 

She gave him another mean look, but at least she grinned. He rolled his eyes and pushed the file a bit to the side. Alright, where had he been... it didn´t take him long to find the right one. Zell Dincht. Stupid face tattoo. He was quite impressed, when he had said athlete Seifer hadn´t really anticipated world class. Maybe... after skipping through the file and drinking the last bit of his cold coffee he made up his mind and ordered tickets for the rest of the tournament. He could say hello. They hadn´t really spoken much that day, just watched a movie until Seifer had to leave to grab his stuff and catch his train back to Deling City. He could thank him again for not kicking him out. Sounded like a plan.

 

He leaned back, grinning broadly. Perfect.

 

“Almasy! How come everyone´s working except for you?”

 

Wincing, he immediately grabbed the file, pretending to read it intently.

 

“Chief, you should pay better attention, I´m the foundation of the...”

 

Chief Kramer rolled her eyes, waving her hand to shut him up. “Spare me and stop googling porn!”

 

“I wasn´t...!”

 

He shrugged. Some fights were not worth fighting.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

There were more people than he had expected. Karate didn´t seem like something that would attract a large crowd. A large crowd very vocal about their thoughts on the matches, making Seifer realize that he had absolutely no idea what the rules were or how they fought or when Dincht was on... Rethinking his plan he got up again, getting some snacks. It could be turn out to be a long afternoon after all.

 

Two hours in Seifer was just mildly bored by the relative repetitiveness of the whole event when Dincht finally showed up. He raised an eyebrow when he heard that he fought for Balamb. They had met in Timber, hadn´t even had a Balambese accent. Unfortunately his curiosity wasn´t satisfied when he realized that the Karate outfit didn´t show much skin. Guy with a face tattoo surely had a bunch of embarrassing tattoos.

 

The fight was short, Dincht didn´t even break a sweat getting his opponent down. It probably was impressive if Seifer had known what they were doing, but at least it looked good. Somehow. Dincht bowed, got off the mat and out of the hall and Seifer leaned back, a little disappointed. That had been a serious waste of time.

 

He left a bit miffed an hour later. Sports had never interested him all that much and it hadn´t changed that day, but a little chat... with a shrug he turned around and circled the gym until he found the back entrance. He had already wasted most of the day, he could waste some more and get results. That sounded good. Settling down on a bench, he grabbed his phone and texted Raijin. He probably had had a way better Saturday and knowing Raijin he would be delighted to inform someone about it.

 

Two hours later Seifer was convinced that he had missed Dincht somehow or he had taken the main entrance after all or maybe he slept in the gym and decided to call it a day when he saw a short guy in jeans and a hoodie with a sport bag on his shoulder exiting the building. Stupid face tattoo. His guy.

 

“Hey, Dincht!”

 

He didn´t even look up, just waved him away and pointed at his earplugs. Two hours weren´t shoved away by earplugs!

 

“Hey, wait a second, Zell!”

 

Seifer grabbed him, making Zell spin around and removing one of his plugs in the most annoyed way possible.

 

“What? I´m in a hurry, what d´ya want?”

 

Seifer stiffened immediately.

 

“Chill a bit, maybe, I´m not trying to convert you to the church of holy Hyne!”

 

Zell looked at him a bit more closely, narrowing his eyes.

 

“Have we met? You look kinda familiar.”

 

“Yeah, Rinoa´s wedding.”

 

Zell´s eyes widened in recognition. Still annoyed, though.

 

“Oh right, you didn´t leave my apartment. What was it, Mike?”

 

“Seifer. Noticed the ads for the tournament and thought it could be interesting to get a look.”

 

Zell removed his other plug, nodding slightly.

 

“What d´ya say? It´s tough competition this year, Hitchinson was stronger than I anticipated.” He shrugged, biting his lip. “But you know, maybe not gold, but I´m definitely in it for a medal.”

 

Seifer frowned. That hadn´t been the name of the guy Zell had fought. Why hadn´t he seen that fight? Were there more areas in which they fought? Couldn´t they announce shit like that?

 

“Yeah, absolutely. Thought you were owning it out there.”

 

Zell side eyed him hard before he broke out into a wide, toothy grin.

 

“You´ve got no idea whatsoever, right?”

 

Seifer shook his head, slowly. “Anyway, I didn´t really get to say thanks for taking care of me back in Timber, so what do you say, grab a beer?”

 

“Nah man, it´s late and I need to get some rest. Tomorrow´s the big day!”

 

Seifer bit back a nasty comment. Being brushed off like that felt like a slap.

 

“Sure. Good luck then.”

 

He grinned again, toothy. It was almost atomic, Seifer was sure his chance for cancer was raised by ten percent. Plugged in his buds and jogged away.

 

Well. So much to that.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“The fuck am I doing here…” The person in the next seat looked offended, but Seifer decided to ignore him. Now he wasted his Sunday as well! And all just… just… He groaned, quietly. He felt like an idiot. But after he had been brushed off like that the day before he couldn´t help himself. And he already had bought the ticket, yes. The actual reason. Since he was already there, he might as well see how the tournament would end. If Dincht was actually going to compete for a medal he would probably do it in a way everyone in the hall saw it. With another sigh he arranged his snacks. It would be a long afternoon…

 

Three hours later Dincht was standing on the podium, getting the bronze medal. Seifer was bored out of his mind, but since the guy next to him started coughing really obnoxiously every time he took out his phone he just tried to think of case files he had to finish the next day… Right when the national anthem of Trabia started, he decided to flee. Maybe it was impolite, but that song had the most annoying tune, probably just picked so that Trabia can get back at the rest of the world for being a cold shitplace.

 

He walked over to his bench and got comfortable again. He was fully prepared to congratulate Zell and inform him that he was still up to invite him for a beer. To celebrate his lousy medal. To show that little jerk that he was above being insulted by his previous behaviour. Grinning to himself he took out his phone to play a little for the waiting time.

 

Not even an hour. Seifer didn´t even pay attention to the people leaving the building when someone nudged him and he almost threw his phone into the next bush.

 

“Hey Mike. A bit unobservant for a stalker. Is that proper behaviour for a cop?”

 

Seifer felt a vein on his forehead pulsate violently. He was just fucking with him!

 

“Actually I wanted to say good job for getting that medal, but you know what, fuck yourself.” He got up, taking full advantage of his height. Zell didn´t seem very impressed.

 

“Right, of course. Listen man, if you want to ask me out, you can just do that. I consider it.”

 

He grinned. Seifer turned around, there had been a bunch of people exiting and they were all standing a few meters away. Probably the rest of the team. Most likely listening to what was going on.

 

“Don´t be so ungrateful, I would´ve written you a text if I had your number.”

 

“Ah, you want my number?” The atomic teeth showed again. He could punch him right into his ugly tattoo.

 

“Whatever. Enjoy the rest of your life.” He turned around, ready to walk through the little crowd to get to his car. He might´ve felt like the biggest idiot in the history of the world, but there was no need to show it.

 

“Mike, wait a second.”

 

“Seifer.” He turned around, reluctantly.

 

“Right, Seifer. Sorry, such a weird name. Here you go…” He scribbled something on an old receipt. Seifer raised his eyebrow. Now what? “I´ll be here till tomorrow afternoon, so we could get a coffee. Happy now?”

 

Seifer ripped the piece of paper out of his hand and stalked away. He wanted to throw it in the garbage. He actually crumpled it and threw it in his car where it landed between other crap on the floor, old wrappers and bottles. At least he was strong until the next day, until he dug through all the garbage to find the little paper again, strong enough to text him around noon and not at eight AM. That was an accomplishment. That little jerk didn´t deserve more.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

It took him almost half an hour to get to the café on the other side of the fucking city! He had to stay longer for this, his lunch break wasn´t nearly long enough to get something and drive back and all because he… what? He couldn´t even explain it himself. Something was set in motion and the immense pettiness inside him didn´t want to back off.

 

Rolling his eyes, he located Dincht who was playing with the ice in his glass, two plates next to him. He already got lunch it seems.

 

“Hey. What´s this all about?”

 

“Hello. Nice to meet you again. Have a seat please. Do you want something to eat?”

 

Seifer glared at him, not sure if he should throw a plate at his head.

 

“And I might remind you that you texted me, so…”

 

The waitress came and Seifer ordered, stalling an answer for another minute. Sadly, she walked away immensely fast.

 

“Yes, I did. So?”

 

He shrugged, looking over the café. “I don´t know, I just thought all that business with the wedding a few weeks ago was over and done on Saturday. And then you reappeared!”

 

“We don´t even know each other.”

 

“I didn´t propose to you, did I? I live on the other side of the continent anyway.”

 

“Yeah, about that…” Seifer stopped for a second. What exactly was he getting at? “What are you trying to say?”

 

“I thought you were alright enough when you didn´t leave my apartment and you´re somehow cute, so when you´re over visiting Rinoa you can stop by. Get a drink. A fuck. Whatever.”

 

“Who says…” Yeah, who was he kidding. He was going to visit Rinoa the second she asked him to come over. “What are you even doing in Timber? You´re from Balamb. `s nicer weather there.”

 

“People move, that´s not a hard concept!” Dincht visibly tried to calm down, stirring his ice tea again. “Timber is nice enough. So you don´t object?”

 

Seifer contemplated it while his sandwich arrived. He contemplated it while he took a bite. He stopped kidding himself the moment he swallowed.

 

“I´ll decide when I´m there.” He paused for a second. “You know, you don´t even deserve my attention.”

 

Dincht laughed, loud enough for some people to turn around. “Whatever you say. Bet you already checked me out back then.”

 

“I did. Wanted to find out if that thing on your face is the only embarrassing ink you´ve got.”

 

Dincht eyed Seifer´s arm, the sleeve rolled up to the elbow. “You´re one to talk. Is that an infinity sign? And, oh, a dandelion. Classy.”

 

Seifer felt his face getting hot and quickly pushed the sleeve further down. “Thought it was a great idea when I was younger. At least it´s not on my face.”

 

Dincht leaned back, absolutely satisfied with himself. “Well, I like it. Your taste is not my problem. Anyway, I gotta go or I miss my train, you can pay for me, ´s for the washing machine. Right?”

 

Right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously I have no idea how Karate tournaments work, so ... if I wrote complete crap, feel free to inform me. Also, for all of you who wanted more of Seifer being a cop, I also don´t have a good idea how cops work besides what I know from TV. Imagine Seifer being like the more serious version of Jake from Brooklyn 99. Or maybe not all that serious. But honestly, his job doesn´t really play a big role for the rest of the FF either, sorry.


	3. Euphoria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still completely embarrassed for the mess in the last chapter, so I hope I make it up with some hilarious buttsex! Haha, this chapter is extra long (or, let´s say the others were super short, cause this is more my style here), but it fits better this way. You´ll see. 
> 
> Have fun!

Balamb was just perfect in the summer. It was warm, but not too hot, there were tourists but they weren´t annoying and what made it incomparably better than Timber was the wind. The air always smelled good, even in the middle of the city. Zell had a hard time imagining why he ever moved away from here, but when Seifer had asked him it just clicked. There hadn´t been any reason to stay. He could just as well move back.

 

Funny enough he never saw him again. He thought about texting him, but that whole encounter during the worlds had been so surreal. He couldn´t quite tell but he guessed that Seifer had seen him at his lowest enabled Zell to act like… an ass. It was a pity, somehow, he had already planned what he would do should he come to Timber, probably miserable after seeing Rinoa. They would get something to eat and chat a bit and he would be there for him and then they would fuck and it would make up for having been a jerk. Although there hadn´t been all that much of an objection.

 

Sighing, he walked past a bunch of fishers on the docks. A few meters down the road was a tiny shop that he loved, best food in town, though it wasn´t very well known. Good for him, he liked the exclusiveness of the place. He greeted some of the people he knew, some were tourist, some…

 

“Are you kidding me?” There he was. Barely recognized him, with the huge sunglasses and the fishing rod. And the tan. But the short blonde hair and did he see an infinity sign? Shaking his head, Zell walked over. That had to be destiny, seriously.

 

“Hey, what a coincidence! Who would´ve thought we would…” He didn´t even look up. Didn´t he remember him? Did he ignore him on purpose? It was already half a year ago, he couldn´t…!

 

“Hey!” He touched his arm and Seifer almost threw his rod away, screaming.

 

“The fuck! You want to give me a heart attack you jerk!” He ripped his earbuds out, face flushed. Rather cute.

 

“Oh, oops. Thought you… ehm… Seifer, remember me?”

 

Seifer straightened, putting his headphones away and getting his spot in order again. “How could I forget a face that, ah, remarkable?”

 

And here they were again. Zell had already decided to just be polite, say something about the weather and get the hell away. He should´ve just ignored him anyway.

 

“Haha, right. What a coincidence! Isn´t the weather nice here? The best thing about Balamb. Sorry to have bothered you, have a nice stay!”

 

He made a step back, waiting for Seifer to say something. He stared at him for a really long time.

 

“Are you on drugs? I´m not on duty here but I will not hesitate to accompany you to the next police station.”

 

“What?” Seriously? How was that guy a cop if he couldn´t even read an awkward situation! “I´m not… I was on my way to… you know what, forget that you saw me, have fun with that.” He gestured in the general direction of the sea.

 

Seifer leaned back in his chair, exhaling loudly. “That´s funny, meeting you here. Weren´t you living in Timber, sulking after the lost boyfriend?”

 

Zell felt his teeth grinding against each other. He should just go. “And what are you doing here? Timber is a shit place and I _am_ from here, I don´t need to justify myself!”

 

“I´m on holiday.” He grinned. He had the audacity to grin! Zell ignored the heat on his face and quickly walked away. There was no reason he should ruin his day with this!

 

Half an hour later he had finished his shopping and was blocking the sun from Seifer´s view. At least he looked up.

 

“Hey asshole, you wanna get drunk? There´s this bar down the street. At 9?”

 

Seifer raised an eyebrow and shrugged. Zell interpreted it as yes and quickly walked home before more stupidity left his mouth.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Seifer was already there when he arrived. This wouldn´t end well, they were obviously both unable to make intelligent decisions when near each other, but then again… who cares. Intelligent decisions hadn´t brought him anywhere, might as well try something else.

 

“So holiday? Hadn´t thought the big bad cop was into fishing.”

 

Seifer looked up, grinning. “What can I say, I`m an old guy at heart.”

 

“Right right.” He ordered a beer, trying to think of a good reason to be there. There were none. “You didn´t call when you were in Timber.”

 

“Didn´t feel like it. I´m not really into one night stands.”

 

“Serious relationships did turn out so nicely for you, right?” Zell wanted to slap himself. It´s not as if he did fuck around, but being near Seifer just brought out the worst in him. Seifer laughed dryly and ordered another beer. Or maybe he shouldn´t worry too much.

 

“Rinoa´s pregnant. Was quite fast.”

 

Yes, it was. So that was what Squall had been after. “What´s there to wait for, eh? I guess.”

 

“How old are you anyway? Not that I´m accidentally molesting a child.”

 

“Shut up, I´m 23.” Maybe didn´t look like it. Seifer hadn´t seemed to be concerned about it anyway. “And you?”

 

“28.” He finished his glass, ordering another one. Zell hadn´t expected him to be so serious about getting drunk. “So you still wanna get it on? We both talked so much around it I feel like we already have an affair going on.”

 

Zell looked at him confused. Tried to sort out his thoughts. Nodded. It didn’t matter.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

They stumbled through Zell´s apartment door, crashing into the drawer right behind it. Zell barely felt it, his brain tried to focus on the tongue in his mouth and the keys that were still stuck in the door and…

 

“Hold on a sec, just…” He closed the door, kicked off his shoes. “Okay, go on.”

 

“Should I…” Seifer gestured at his feet.

 

“Ah yes, please. I don´t want stains on my carpet.” Seifer fumbled with his laces, he was obviously more buzzed than Zell. He wondered how much sooner he had been at that bar. The moment he was done he almost stumbled over his own feet when he got up too quickly, but got a grip on the drawer at the last second.

 

“Maybe we should leave it for tomorrow, I don´t want to take advantage of you…”

 

“Oh god, my balance is a bit off but I can make decisions just fine. I consent to sex. You happy now?”

 

Zell bit his lip, not sure if that was morally justifiable, but Seifer decided to put an end to it, grabbed him and shoved him through the first door he encountered.

 

“Hey, wait, that´s just my living room!”

 

“So what, you should fit fine on a couch you midget.” To prove it he got down on it, making Zell sit on his lap while he immediately continued where he had stopped. Sucking on Zell´s face.

 

“I don´t want hickeys…”

 

“Too late I´m afraid. Who´s gonna care?” He licked deeper, tugged on Zell´s T-shirt. He didn´t object when Seifer pulled it over his head. “Now look at that…”

 

“I´ve got training… what?” Zell looked down, seeing Seifer inspecting his chest with curious eyes. Right. _You´ve got more stupid tattoos?_

 

“I like this one.” Seifer circled the wings right under his pecs before he leaned forward, licking over it. Zell bit his lip, he didn´t want to moan, the walls weren´t very good in the building. “And this one is great.” Seifer leaned forward, inspecting the full sleeve on Zell´s right arm. “Somehow everything is better than that thing on your face.”

 

“Oh shut it, infinity tattoo my ass.” Seifer grinned, trying to get deeper down Zell´s chest. “Got something on your dick? I´d like to know.” He pulled on the waistband of Zell´s trousers, opening it. Couldn´t be all that drunk. “Oh, a natural blond after all.”

 

“What? Of course I am!” Seifer grinned, shoving him to the side so he could get better access. He pulled on Zell´s pants some more, but gave up quickly and just got down on Zell. The whole length.

 

“Fuck! Can´t you… warn…” Zell bit his hand, cursing silently. And here he had thought Seifer was just a confused straight guy, and now he sucked cock like a pro. “You´re not gonna vomit on me, are you? Drunk asshole…” Seifer looked up when he got down deep enough to touch Zell´s pubic hair with his nose. Zell wanted to kill him, but it felt way too good to stop any time soon. Seifer got off, licking the whole length again before he jerked him off a bit.

 

“You assumed I was a slut, happy now?”

 

Zell was breathing heavily, thoughts weren´t forming very well in his head. “I got carried away. You were stalking me. Didn´t think… ah… you´d take it seriously.”

 

“Hmmm.” Seifer got up, finally pulling his shirt off. There were tan lines from the time on the docks, and some less distinct one´s from some time on the beach probably. “What´s with the necklace?”

 

“What´s with your hair, you look like a misshapen bird.”

 

Zell rolled his eyes while he struggled out of his pants. Fine, he didn´t want to talk about it. Probably a gift from Rinoa anyway. Seifer looked curious at the tribals on Zell´s calves. “You´re not gonna lick my legs. I swear I´m gonna kick you out!”

 

“Nah, too hairy. You´ve got something on your back as well? I can… look at it while I fuck you.”

 

Zell´s eyes narrowed. That was not going to happen!

 

“Wait a second, I won´t bottom. Ever.” Zell sat up to emphasize his point.

 

“You can forget that. I haven´t bottomed in ages.” Seifer looked equally determined. Well.

 

“Listen Seifer, I´m just as fine to suck some dick and be done with it. Equally satisfying. So?”

 

Seifer thought about it for a second but finally shrugged it off. “Fine, you´re almost a teenager, let´s act like teenagers.” He pulled his pants down, kicking them aside. “I guess you´ve got practice?”

 

Seifer hadn´t seen it coming. Zell felt particularly good about the surprised look when he punched him in the stomach. It hadn´t even been a very hard punch, just hard enough to make sure he remembered not to make more lousy comments.

 

“Now we can continue.”

 

“You little shit.”

 

Zell grinned, snapping back Seifer´s underwear. Wasn´t that nice? He rubbed over Seifer´s dick, slowly, enjoying the gasps that Seifer tried not to let him hear, pretending to be angry about the little hit. And here Seifer had thought he would fuck him with that dick. Way too thick. He slowly licked over the underside, enjoying the tremble that went over Seifer´s stomach. Seifer grabbed onto the couch, slowly sliding down into a lying position.

 

Zell teased the head, giving it a few nudges before he took it into his mouth. Just the head. “Could you be a bit quieter? I´ve got neighbours.” Seifer groaned, putting his arm over his eyes. “Yeah maybe you get on with it already.”

 

Ah, he could do that, but where would be the fun? Zell rubbed his index finger over the slit, getting rid of the precum. He was about to actually get it in his mouth when Seifer interrupted him.

 

“You know what, I changed my mind.”

 

“What? About what?” Zell thought about swallowing it anyway, it looked so teasingly at him.

 

“I can bottom this one time. This is not going anywhere!”

 

“Are you serious? I was…”

 

“Yes, for fuck´s sake, should I spell it out?”

 

Zell shrugged, he didn´t need much convincing. He pulled on Seifer´s underwear, who willingly moved his butt up, and pulled him a bit closer. He should have some condoms nearby… emergency one in his wallet. Good thing he hadn´t thrown his pants too far. Ripping it open he quickly pulled it on and spit in his hand.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Zell hesitated for a second, looking over to Seifer. “Well… I guess it´s obvious?”

 

“We´re not in the fucking woods, don’t you have some lube?”

 

Oh. He hadn´t even considered it. There was already some lube on the condom and anyway…

 

“Do you?”

 

“I guess. I just moved in three weeks ago, I´ve got to look…” Seifer gestured at him to get going. Rolling his eyes he got up, searching the drawer in his bedroom. Unbelievable. He could at least try to be a bit more flexible, this was like the worst interruption of all times and if he wasn´t even sure if he had some, it´s not as if he had an enormous sex life to begin with!

 

“You found one?”

 

“Stop screaming! Neighbours, forgotten?” Cursing, he went through the last drawer and there it was, behind some T-shirts. He couldn´t even remember when he had bought it.

 

“I think I´m gonna leave.”

 

“Can you wait a second maybe?” Zell tried to figure out where the expiration date was printed, the last thing he wanted was to explain why that dude he wasn´t related to was having severe problems with his bowels and what might´ve caused it…

 

“Got it. You still there?” He hadn´t moved a millimeter. Fucking drama queen. “Are you asleep?”

 

“No, I just pretend.” Seifer moved his arm away from his eyes. “Is that actual lube or just some food you found?”

 

Zell already started putting it on his dick and didn´t even look up. “Yeah, some butter. `s tasty. Come on now.” He grabbed Seifer´s legs, pulling him towards him. “Let´s try like this, if it hurts just… say something.”

 

“No, I´m gonna suffer quietly and what the fuck do you think I´m gonna do?”

 

Zell huffed, trying not to punch him again. He adjusted himself a bit and then pushed in, a bit more quickly than necessary.

 

“Fuck, Zell, a little warning maybe?”

 

“Got all the warnings in the world… you fine? Can I move?”

 

Seifer nodded impatiently. Hesitating for a second Zell leaned down, kissing him deeply before he started moving. Everything was nicer with a bit more body contact. He started out slowly, barely leaving Seifer´s mouth, until he felt him ease a bit, relax. Zell knew he had been impatient, but there was no sense in apologizing now. When Seifer was slowly panting into his mouth, Zell picked up the pace a bit.

 

„You still alright here?“

 

„Must be a bad fuck... if you can´t stop talking...“

 

Zell grinned, pressing in as deep as he could. If he wanted it that way. It didn´t take long for him to feel like he was about to come, hands pressed against the armrest of the couch, his forehead resting against Seifer.

 

„Hey, you wanna turn around? Or...“

 

Seifer didn´t even bother to answer, he raised his chin enough to steal another kiss, wrapping his legs around Zell´s hips. „`s just fine as it is.“

 

A few more strokes and Zell was done, collapsing against Seifer´s chest. He had to catch his breath a bit before he could deal with the rest. Slowly moving down, he finally got a taste of Seifer´s cock. He was a bit tired, but hearing the surprised gasp was worth it anyway. He didn´t play around, just swallowed as much as he could without gagging. Seifer actually grabbed his hair, something that he hated, but for this one occasion he didn´t protest. Not after Seifer had offered himself so willingly. Well, more or less.

 

Barely a minute later Seifer was already grabbing harder, trying to press Zell as much as possible. He wanted to get away, he hated to swallow, but he also didn´t want to lie in a pool of cum later and there was no time to grab a tissue or whatever and... retching quietly, he moved away. Didn´t want to make it sound like he was disgusted. But he seriously needed some water.

 

„And here you thought I was the slut.“

 

Or maybe he could live with it. „Oh shut up, this is not a contest.“ He lied down, right on Seifer´s chest, playing lightly with the dark blonde hair. He wanted to say something, something snarky, but... too tired...

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

A loud thump woke him up. It took some time for Zell to realize that he had fallen off the couch and he slowly shuffled over to his own bed. The next time he woke up, he felt refreshed and better than in ages. He heard Seifer outside, probably looking for something to eat, maybe just getting ready to leave. Stretching, he glanced at the clock.

 

“Fuck! Why didn´t you wake me? Asshole, I´m not on holiday!”

 

Seifer looked up from his toast, big eyes. It looked hilarious. It was absolutely not the right time.

 

“What? I didn´t think you had to be somewhere in time.”

 

“I told you I had training! I can´t just pop up whenever I feel like it!”

 

Seifer looked into a far corner, deep in thought.

 

“Well, now I know.”

 

“That was three hours ago.” He rubbed over his head, his hair probably looked a mess. “I´m gonna... I´m gonna call it in. Take a sick day. I cannot go there and tell my trainer I missed because I was too tired from a fuck!”

 

Seifer grinned, but kept his thoughts to himself. Better for him.

 

Half an hour later Zell managed to take a shower and was somewhat calmed down. It was embarrassing, that way he would never win gold at worlds and there were regionals to tackle soon and...

 

“It´s just one day. The world won´t end because of it.”

 

“Why are you still here?” Zell looked over to Seifer who changed his spot to the couch, zapping through some programs.

 

“Thought I could at least wait till you´re awake before I leave. Wouldn´t feel quite so... awful.”

 

Zell nibbled on some toast, not sure if he wanted to eat. He should go for a jog or do _something_ , make up for the lost time... “Why are you so cheery anyway, shouldn´t you still be hungover?”

 

“Told you I wasn´t drunk.”

 

Nibbling some more on his toast, he watched Seifer a bit. Or he could just... it was just one day. One fucking day. “Hey Seifer, you got plans for later?”

 

Seifer threw the remote on the couch and got up in an instant. “Thought you would never ask!”

 

Zell eyed him suspiciously. “So you didn´t wake me on purpose!”

 

Seifer grinned, walking over to the table. “Nah, but I was kinda hoping it wouldn´t take long. This is actually better and it´s barely eleven.”

 

“And why? Aren´t you busy fishing or whatever?”

 

Seifer shrugged, sitting down. “Not really, but...” He looked around, thinking. “I barely know anything about you and you are from here, so you could show me around a bit.”

 

“What, like a date?” Zell grinned. Now that was precious. “How cute. I have no hard feelings, so you don´t have to feel like you have to make up for it or whatever.”

 

“It´s not as if I forced you!”

 

And now he was embarrassed. Zell could hardly think of anything that would make him comply faster. And besides... “Y´know, I like to go over to Balamb Garden when I have time or the weather is nice or I want to relax a bit. Have you been there already?”

 

Seifer squinted but slowly shook his head. “No, not quite my thing.”

 

“Right, you´re more into fishing.” Zell ignored the protesting huff. “It´s the most famous sight in Balamb, you should at least been there once when you´re on holiday here anyway. And don´t scoff, it´s not just flowers.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The ride took them forty minutes in which Zell didn´t stop talking, pointing out every village they passed, how most of them were at the sea and how the mountains were barely inhabited, and Balamb was living mostly of the tourists for the mild weather the whole year and the pretty beaches... Seifer didn´t tell him to stop talking, although it didn´t interest him in the slightest. But it was nice having someone blabber during a long ride, and since he didn´t have anything to do anyway, it served as a nice background noise.

 

“And there it is. Looks impressive, right?”

 

Seifer looked up and yes, indeed. It looked impressive. The Garden was huge, formed like a weird ship and growing smaller with every floor. The design surely was rather outlandish.

 

“See, they divided the floors for every continent. They show Galbadia and Balamb in the ground floor, Trabia and Esthar in the first and in the top is Centra.”

 

Seifer raised an eyebrow. “There´s nothing growing in Centra besides cacti. Why waste a whole floor on it?”

 

Zell huffed, annoyed. “Wait till you see it. It´s actually a cooporation between Centra and Balamb, making it more attractive for tourists or something.”

 

Seifer leaned back again, having seen enough. “Yeah, they really need every bit of advertisement they can get.”

 

Zell eyed him and Seifer sensed there was another speech prepared. He already tuned out again.

 

“Just so you know, if Esthar hadn´t colonized Centra a few hundred years ago, the continent wouldn´t be so run-down. There had been an impressive culture, most of it had been destroyed but what is still there is absolutely worth a visit. I was there once, a small championship took place in the capital and...”

 

Tuning out. Yes.

 

When they finally arrived, Seifer couldn´t help himself. He had to stare like some villager coming to the big city. It was much larger than he had anticipated, hadn´t looked like that from far away. And the prices for the parking lot were horrendous.

 

“They really take advantage that they are in the middle of nowhere, eh?”  


Zell shrugged and paid without a comment. Seifer considered paying, he probably earned more than some athlete, but then again... he had to watch flowers for a whole afternoon. The entrance fee was equally high, at least he had some tourist ticket for a discount.

 

“Almasy? That´s your last name? No wonder you´ve got no sympathy with Centra!”

 

They walked through the park surrounding the garden. Seifer rolled his eyes, kicking a pebble away. “My great-grandparents are from Esthar, I don´t even know from where exactly, get a grip. I just think that Centra isn´t worth a visit, I don´t want them to starve to death.”

 

Zell gave him a suspicious glare but didn´t comment any further. A blessing.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

He didn´t want to say it out loud but the Garden was beautiful. It was immensely large, divided into small rooms, each displaying another eco system and despite the amount of cars he had seen outside it was relatively empty. The crowd probably dispersed in the large area.

 

“Trabia has a Garden as well, but it´s more a zoo. `s still pretty cool.”

 

Seifer nodded slightly. “You come around a lot, eh?”

 

“Was a school trip. Trabia is awful.” He laughed, it almost seemed blasphemous in the quiet atmosphere.

 

“They want to build one in Galbadia, don´t know what they want to show. Just that it will be the biggest Garden in the world!”

 

Zell inspected an assortment of small blue flowers that were growing on a rock. “Yeah, Galbadia always has to show it got a big dick. Didn´t quite end in Timber.” He got up again, pointing to the door on the far left. “That one has water plants, there´s a huge pond in the middle.”

 

Balamb´s part consisted mostly of trees and lichens which could be found in the mountains. They went through rather quickly and up to the first floor. Trabia was equally boring, Esthar though had a large assortment of… cacti.

 

“There´s not even that much desert in Esthar!”

 

Zell laughed, poking one especially vicious looking cactus. “Oh, I don´t know. You wanna take a break?” There was a bench right under a huge cactus. At least it was stylish and he could use a little to drink.

 

“And, happy to be back in Balamb?”

 

“You bet! Timber was…” Zell waved his hand. “Shithole. Never want to see it again.”

 

“Sure it´s the city?”

 

Seifer looked him straight in the eyes, but Zell didn´t look away. Maybe he would get punched again but he had zero interest in becoming a pity fuck for some dramatic breakup. More than he already was.

 

“I hate Timber. I don´t hate Squall. I´m just…” Now he looked away, a pained look in his eyes. That was not good. Seifer hoped he wouldn´t start to cry. “Disappointed. I had expected some more. I thought…”

 

“He would take it more seriously? How did it end?”

 

“You are quite nosy, you know that? Are you interrogating me, officer?”

 

“Detective. Nah, I´m just a curious bastard.” He grinned, closing the cap on his water bottle.

 

Zell rubbed his arms, visibly fighting the urge to just spill it all out. Seifer knew he just had to wait a bit.

 

“He… broke up after he met Rinoa. You know, it´s okay, it´s not his fault he fell in love, but… but telling me that he never thought we would last long but it had been nice…!” Zell stopped for a second, pulling his legs up so he could rest his chin on them. “I moved to Timber for him. I didn´t do that because I thought it would be nice for a fucking year! Ts.” He looked away, over some more Estharian cacti, all just as hard and uncaring as Squall obviously proved to be. Seifer reluctantly put his hand on Zell´s shoulder. He wasn´t sure what he should do, but maybe… he shouldn´t do anything. Maybe Zell was happy just having been able to tell someone.

 

“What´s with you and Rinoa? I guess you weren´t the one to end it.”

 

Seifer sighed. That. “No, it was over before she went to Timber. Because she went to Timber, I don´t know. It didn´t work all that well anyway, with her ambitions to go into politics. She told me we were growing apart or some bullshit like that. It doesn´t matter. We´re staying friends.”

 

Zell huffed, his face still buried between his arms. “Yeah, that´s why you sulked at her wedding like a pro.”

 

“You know, there´s a difference between being separated and knowing that it´s completely over. It hurt, but I got over it. Why did you even go there?”

 

“Some friends of mine were there. Whatever, I didn´t talk to them and then I left, barely counts as attendance. I haven´t heard anything of them since then either.”

 

At least someone had found closure. Though Seifer doubted Squall had a hard time getting over it anyway.

 

“Come on, we haven´t seen Centra yet. After all your blabbering I´m actually curious.”

 

Leaning back on the bench Zell grinned. Reluctantly, but at least there weren´t hidden tears streaming down the awful tattoo. “You won´t be disappointed you bastard.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

He wasn´t. Not in his wildest dreams had he thought he would be amazed by the flora of Centra, but who knew.

 

“Zell, look at this. It´s a Ruby Dragon.” He pointed at the huge red flower, barely supported by the tiny branch. “And it´s super rare. Centra doesn´t look like that after all.”

 

“Look at that orchid, a Grand Mantis. Not all that rare. And over there, a blitz, the most awesome bushes in the world. I know how that sounds. And do you see the one down on the left? It´s a …”

 

“Okay okay, I´m convinced. Let´s go to the top, I want to see the view. I will inspect the rest later.”

 

Just like the next best tourist. Seifer shook his head, amused about himself, not that it kept him from climbing the stairs quickly. He was not disappointed. The view from the top was breathtaking, a panorama view of the mountains on one side, the sea on the other. Mostly benches and a few decorative plants from all continents, nothing fancy, nothing too plain. Zell came after him, a bit slower. Already used to it probably.

 

“It´s always worth going to the top, eh?”

 

Yes. And there weren´t even any other people. Seifer breathed in calmly, feeling himself relax. He felt content. Happy. He couldn´t quite…

 

“Zell, do you… have this feeling when you´re here? Like this is where you should be? Where you belong?”

 

 _Where you should´ve been._ He turned around, Zell was just looking at him, a neutral expression on his face, not saying anything.

 

“So what do you say?”

 

Zell opened his mouth, about to answer, but somehow… Seifer stepped closer, trying to focus, his eyes couldn´t… quite… it looked like static, the whole room was slightly out of synch and Zell was moving his mouth but he couldn´t hear it, everything blurry and moving and spinning and Seifer tried to grab his head, tried to make it stop, whatever was going on, he didn´t want to see the whole world turn into a broken TV, it had been so nice, why couldn´t it stay this way, why couldn´t it just stay this way?

 

He opened his eyes, and nothing was there. Maybe he hadn’t opened them, maybe he just didn´t know anymore, it couldn´t be, this couldn´t be all… that was left. That was…

 

“…eifer. Seifer. Seifer!”

 

Light was shining him straight in the face, making him squint. Someone shook him, it took him some time to see clearly, make out who it was. Zell was leaning over him, his face dirty and bloody.

 

“You´re awake.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don´t know what´s going on, but I´m writing quicker than ever! I guess the fics done end of the week. Hope you liked it and stay for the final act!


	4. Static

“You´re awake. You´re awake.” Zell sighed, loudly, holding onto the bench while he let his head sank between his shoulders. “I thought you were dead but you started moving and…”

 

Seifer stared at him. Something wasn´t right, hadn´t he just… hadn´t he… he couldn´t quite remember. Something had happened, but it was so blurry, right out of grasp. He didn´t want to forget, Balamb Garden, Zell, he had told him something, something very…

 

“Wha…” He tried to swallow, his throat aching and dry. “What has happened?”

 

“She´s dead.” Zell sat down on the ground, reaching out for a bottle of water. He handed it over to Seifer who took it gratefully. “We killed her.”

 

“Who?” What fights, had there been fights, how could…

 

“Ultimecia, of course. And Adell, don´t know if you were still there. But she wasn´t so important.”

 

It slowly dawned on him, his brain still foggy. He took a few gulps, the bottle fell out of his limb fingers, splashing water all over the concrete. Hitting Zell´s legs. He didn´t seem to bother.

 

“Ultimicia is dead.”

 

“Yeah. If you wanna start a fight about it…” Zell waved his hand. His gloved hand. Seifer´s head snapped to the side, his gunblade, where was it? When he felt the cool smooth surface he felt himself relax. Something was right after all.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“For what now?” Zell looked up, tiredly.

 

“For killing her.”

 

Zell just shrugged. “No problem, I guess.”

 

Squinting, Seifer looked around. Hadn´t he just been here? It looked like the Garden, but not… the botanic one. No, it looked like the entrance area, the one that couldn´t still be there, not after the Garden could fly, not after he had bombed it.

 

“Where are we?”

 

“Balamb Garden.” Zell looked over his shoulder. “Home.”

 

“This is not Balamb Garden. It doesn´t look like it should. It´s… it´s not right!” Not even the colours were right, everything was weirdly out of focus, blue tinged, and… there were no people. “Where is everyone?” He got on his feet, started to walk up and down, not daring to actually go near it.

 

“We´re probably still in time compression. It looked like this when we left the castle, so weird and no people around. Y´know, Laguna said to think about a place we want to be when it happens and I just wanted to go home.”

 

It made even less sense. Nothing made sense! “What is time compression? What happened?” He knew screaming wasn´t helping anyone but it was either that or crying.

 

“Didn´t she tell you, your mistress?” Zell grinned, widely. “You guys had some trust issues, I guess. But you were at the castle, right?”

 

No, he couldn´t remember any castle, the… the Lunatic Pandora, he remembered that, and Deling City. The wedding in Timber.

 

“I don´t think this is real. I don´t… I don´t think… I thought I died when everything went…” They had done something after he had pushed Rinoa to Adell. Killed her. He didn´t remember it, just something weird had happened, like he missed a step, like his whole body just surged downwards for a moment and then… And then there had been a wedding in Timber. “It can´t be real.” He shook his head. “Where is everyone? Where is Squall? Why isn´t he trying to kill me, I…” His heart was beating frantically, was he getting a panic attack?

 

“I wondered why you haven´t jumped out from behind some pillar and tried to fuck everyone up again. Like, again. You must´ve thought of Balamb since you landed here as well.”

 

Of course he had. He had been there. “Why is no one else here?”  


“Dunno. Time compression is some weird thing, I don´t think time passes everywhere the same at the moment. Right when we killed her, everything collapsed. It… did feel like dying, yeah.”

 

“Why are you so calm?” When I am freaking out? Zell should freak out as well, that way he would at least be sure that Zell was actually existing.

 

“I kinda ended here with you and you were unconscious and didn´t wake up, no matter what I did. I looked around, ´s no one here, but there´s still food and water in the cafeteria.” He pointed towards the Garden. He had actually went in there. A shiver ran down Seifer´s spine. “That was a few days ago. Guess I had some time to adjust.”

 

“And now?”

 

Zell hopped to his feet, brushing some dirt of his pants. Most of it stayed on.

 

“Guess we wait and hope that the compression is over soon. Wanna get something to eat?”

 

Zell already started walking towards the entrance and stopped when he noticed that Seifer wasn´t following him.

 

“What now? There´s no one in there, you don´t have to worry about that.”

 

Seifer nodded, swiftly and grabbed his gunblade from the bench. But that was exactly what was scaring him so much.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

They just passed the entrance when Seifer couldn´t keep quiet anymore. It was freaking him out, everything, most of all that Zell walked in front of him, relaxed, not afraid, not tense. Nothing Seifer had done deserved that attitude!

 

“I don´t get it. I… I tried to kill you. Quite often even… aren´t you… concerned?”

 

Zell stopped for a second, looking behind his shoulder. Shrugging, he just kept walking. “Doesn´t look like you´re trying some shit right now.”

 

“How can you know that?”

 

“You just thanked me that we killed the bitch. Dunno, sounded like the war is over.”

 

Seifer opened his mouth to give him a biting retort but closed it again a second later. He rubbed his eyebrow, shrugged. Maybe he should just accept it as it was. There were enough things to worry about already.

 

It was so quiet… the only sound he could hear where the fountains. He had lived there his whole life and never felt more uncomfortable walking down the hall. There was plenty of food left in the cafeteria, but Zell only grabbed the packed stuff. Seifer assumed he had a reason. He was so hungry… hadn´t even noticed it.

 

“Are the bathrooms still functional?”

 

Zell looked up from the napkin he was tearing into small pieces. Wasn´t quite so sure what to do with himself as well.

 

“Dunno. Haven´t tried it.”

 

He didn´t want to go into the rooms on his own. Seifer could absolutely understand that, but they were also both filthy as fuck and they already made it to the food.

 

“What about the locker rooms at the training center? There´s some spare clothes.”

 

Zell shrugged, but got up. It was just about an hour since Seifer woke up, he was still confused and irritated, and Zell… he didn´t want to think about it. He wasn´t like he remembered him. And it frightened him to think that he might be dreaming again. But this time it wasn’t…

 

Besides the lack of people the locker rooms looked normal and the showers were still working. It was a blessing, especially when he noticed the water running down his body was almost black. He did remember what had happened, the war, the fights, but the details… the details were gone. He couldn´t remember the last time he had showered. Just a few old bruises under it, nothing serious. He almost sighed in relief, he couldn´t trust himself to remember serious injuries.

 

When he stepped out, Zell was already toweling himself off. It had just been yesterday… he shook his head, the memory was already a blur. A dream. It had to be. This was real, and Zell was only having the ugly face tattoo and one on his back. _Still six years too young._

 

“You think the monsters are still there?” Zell pulled a white T-shirt over his head, turning around. There was a nasty burn on his stomach, but he didn´t seem to notice.

 

“Why aren´t you healing that?” Seifer involuntarily wanted to cast a spell before he realized that he wasn´t junctioned. Witchcraft didn´t need para magic.

 

“That? `s not so bad. Listen, there are monsters in the fields, guess there are monsters here as well, but since you´re not junctioned…” He shrugged, adjusting his sweatpants. “Do what you want. We don´t need to stay together.”

 

Seifer frowned, but followed him back to the main hall. Zell was just sitting down on one of the benches, not saying anything, not doing anything. Seifer couldn´t help it but somehow he couldn´t accept that this should be real. The other Zell had been much more like… he remembered him. That damn little noisy asshole. This one… “What´s wrong with you?”

 

Zell looked up, not surprised. Not… anything. “What do you mean?”

 

“You´re acting fucking weird! I guess the war´s over, but you´re still supposed to be mad at me!” He leaned back, staring at the ceiling. Seifer was ready to punch him just to get some kind of response out of him.

 

“I am mad. I´m just… too tired. Too tired to scream or fight or whatever you´ve been expecting. You know, when Ultimecia died, it felt like… someone pulled the ground away from under my feet and I thought…” He stopped, looking at Seifer again. “I thought I was dead. And then I woke up here, you were lying around a few meters away and I wondered if this is hell. If I should spend the rest of eternity in this awful place, carrying your comatose body around. In comparison I can´t really feel all that mad right now. I´m just glad you´re talking again.”

 

“You do realize I knew what I was doing?”

 

“Do you want me to attack you or what? I won´t give you absolution, asshole.”

 

Now that sounded much more like he used to. Some of the tenseness in his body seemed to ease. “I don´t want your pity, prick.”

 

Zell shuffled to the side, lying on the bench. Getting comfortable. “Could you… do what you wanted to do? I was wondering, I mean you were talking and shit like normal, but you seemed…”

 

“It was a bit of a haze. Like being drunk. I guess if I had really wanted, I could’ve fought against it.”

 

Zell grinned, the first time he didn´t pull a face. That was progress. “Well, that was what you wanted, why fight against it, eh? Guess it didn´t feel so great afterwards.”

 

No. Absolutely not. He got down as well, on the opposite bench. One of the bushes were right between them, hiding them from each other.

 

“You know Seifer, if I had the chance I would´ve blown Galbadia to pieces. I would´ve even fucked everyone up with a Lunar Cry. Guess I was lucky I´m not the bad person now.”

 

“I thought I said I don´t want pity.”

 

“Just fuck yourself.”

 

He was quiet after that.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Two days passed in which they weren´t doing much besides grabbing some food and going on the toilet. They didn´t talk, just got up when one of them needed something. There was no one, but none of them wanted to be alone. Two and a half days and Seifer was sick of it. He couldn´t imagine what they were waiting for and he really just wanted to brush his teeth and get his own clothes. Maybe…

 

“Hey, you think my room is still here?”

 

Zell moved his arm from over his eyes, glancing in Seifer´s direction. “I guess. Don´t think anyone thought of moving your shit while we were in a war. Besides…” He waved his hand around.

 

“Get up, I want to grab a few things.”

 

Zell snorted, putting his arm back. That was it. They were wasting time and he had the nerve to ignore it! Seifer grabbed Zell´s arm, dragging him with him. He had no problem carrying the little asshole all the way to the dorms.

 

“The fuck do you think you´re doing? Get off me!” He was still junctioned, something Seifer hadn´t quite thought of. The punch that landed in his face hurt like hell, but he didn´t drop Zell. He staggered, barely avoiding another punch and just kneed Zell in the gut. He gasped, but it was not nearly enough to get him down. Seifer finally let go when Zell got a hold of his arm and almost dislocated his shoulder.

 

“I´m not going there. Do what you have to do, I´m not going there. UNDERSTOOD?”

 

Seifer grunted, trying to get his arm out. It just hurt more. “Gimme a GF at least, I´m unarmed.”

 

“The fuck will I do, there´s nothing in there anyway!” Zell rammed his knee between Seifer´s shoulder blades, for good measure.

 

“If there´s nothing, why aren´t you coming then? Don´t you wanna get your own stuff?”

 

“This is not my stuff. This is not…”

 

No. It´s not the Garden. It´s not home, where they both wanted to be. It´s somewhere else and it didn´t seem to end anytime soon. “Can´t sleep on the bench forever, don´t you think.”

 

Zell pressed harder, making him groan involuntarily. But he let go after a final push, making a step backwards. “We´re gonna get away from here. We just have to wait.”

 

“If this is real, you mean.”

 

“It is fucking real! Time is not working right now, so we have to wait! Don´t you dare tell me that this isn´t real!”

 

Seifer grinned. So he wasn´t the only one who was doubting what was going on. “Come on now, maybe we have to wait for weeks. I´m not gonna do that in sweatpants, for fuck´s sake.”

 

Zell made another step backwards, wary, cautious, but when Seifer started walking he followed. When Seifer arrived at his door, he stood barely a step behind him. When Seifer punched in the code number, he could make out the small hitch in Zell´s breathing when the door opened and… everything was as it had been. There was nothing out of place, just… no one there. He wondered what happened to Raijin and Fujin, wondered if they were in their own version of Balamb Garden looking at an empty room, hoping that they were not.

  
He hesitated for a second before he entered. It was still fine. “See, nothing here. Maybe we should just camp out in your room, it´s bigger, I just get my clothes and…” He turned around. Zell looked terrified but tried to hide it when Seifer looked at him. “Are you alright?”

 

“Yeah, sure. You need some help?”

 

Of course not. “Sure, grab a bag while I go through it. We can go to your room afterwards.”

 

Zell nodded slightly, visibly pushing himself to get into the room.

 

In the end they carried everything back to the main hall, even their mattresses. It was better than staying in the eerie rooms, probably best if they got back to the entrance, but the weather was getting cold and who knew, some monsters might get in.

 

Changing from the bench to his bed was a blessing. Seifer had taken everything that he might use, books, some CDs, enough clothes to hopefully not having to go back again. They could easily spend a few weeks that way. Probably. Maybe.

 

“The cars should be functional as well, right? Shouldn´t we… go to Balamb?”

 

Zell up from arranging his personal stuff, frowning. “What makes you think it´s any better there? Probably everything empty as well, but maybe you just wanna break in some houses and go through personal stuff of other people, eh?”

 

Zell grinned, but Seifer knew he didn´t mean it. Instead, he threw a pair of socks at him.

 

Zell dodged easily. “You know what, if you´re getting cabin fever we can take a round through the Garden. Maybe we´ll find something useful. Who knows how long this will take.”

 

It sounded like hope. That was good.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“At least the library has enough entertainment left.”

 

“I guess.” Seifer looked around, at the draw point in the corner. He missed magic, he missed the feeling of being powerful, but Zell would rather die than give him a GF. Seifer knew there was no need for it anyway, there was nothing he could fight, but he would´ve preferred not to feel completely helpless. “Let´s go to the infirmary, see what they have in stock. You might catch a cold.”

 

It was already snowing outside. Even the weather was crazy in this place.

 

The second floor was equally empty and lifeless. They went through the classrooms, the computers were functional but they didn´t dare to look anything up. In case it was just a weird fucked up copy of what they knew. Seifer didn´t know what he would do, and Zell sure as fuck felt the same. They left out the offices of the teachers, it didn´t feel right somehow. They hadn´t looked in any other dorm rooms as well.

 

It was just when they reached the top that an uneasy feeling came over Seifer. It was just like…

 

“Wait. Zell, wait a second. I… I don´t wanna go up there.”

 

Zell turned around, annoyed. They had come so far. “What now? It´s just another floor, then we´re done.”

 

It wasn´t. The memory had faded rapidly, but Seifer still saw some things pretty clearly. Balamb Garden, Centra on the third floor, just when they had reached the viewing platform everything had gone… “Ultimecia died, you fell and you woke up here, right?”

 

“Yeah? I told you already, now come on!” Zell waved, growing more irritated with the second.

 

“There was nothing in between? Are you sure?”

 

“Seifer, don´t go on my nerves. Just move your butt so that we can be done with it.”

 

Reluctantly, he moved to the door. He had never been in the headmaster´s office, but in a way he had already seen it. When they entered, he exhaled, relief flooding through him. It looked nothing like the viewing platform, it was just a boring office with a nice view. Zell looked around, hands pressed on his hips.

 

“Right, nothing´s here as well. Guess we can go back downstairs now?”

 

“Zell… are you sure you haven´t seen it? The Garden? You´ve told me about… about Squall and it had felt so right, like we were meant to be there. Here.” He stopped, his eyes shifting over the floor. “It felt so real, not like this.”

 

When he looked up, Zell was looking at him, a tiny smile on his lips. Seifer blinked, his vision blurry.

 

_Fin._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Puh, so that´s done! I wasn´t expecting this story to go from ‘alright, I wanna write a lemon, let´s extend it a bit’ to ‘the fuck is even going on?’ Haha. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I could´ve easily written a few more thousand words about the two trying to survive without losing their minds, but everything needs to end. Alright, now I had something in mind writing this chapter, so for everyone who doesn´t want to know it, stop reading right here.
> 
> For everyone else, my thought was basically that the ending was from Squall´s view and he was at Edea´s and Ultimecia had to get her soul transferred and then he had to find Rinoa etc, so what happened to the rest of the gang? And since it was Time Compression, there was no need for time to run linearly. Zell and Seifer just ended up in the normal world, just as it was when you could visit it in the game in Disk 4. Zell was right, they just had to wait.
> 
> Or maybe… you know. 
> 
> Heh, hope it was somewhat entertaining and until next time!


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